Immersion Studios, All Rights Reserved

Written, Typeset, Art-Directed and Designed by:

Oliver R. Shead

Cover Art (and interiors): Andy Walsh

Other Artists: Joshua Meehan, Alexander Chelyshev,

Bram Boco Sels

Playtesters and Assistant Game Designers: Stuart

Holbrook, Daniel Milne, Jet Liberson, Rein Drafall

2
 Sampler
W
elcome to the sample copy of Infected!,
a short version of our full book, which
was funded by a Kickstarter in 2015, and
printed in mid-2016.
This is the second edition of our sampler, to take
into account our revised and streamlined rules
system, and to give you not only a taste of what
our full book holds, but also to give you enough
information to be able to play a game of your own.
You can order a PDF copy of the book on Drive Thru
RPG (search for Infected Zombie RPG, or click here)
and physical copies will be available soon.
Please check out our website of www.immersion-
rpg.com for more updates, to subscribe and hear
about further Kickstarters to come!
Oliver R. Shead
3
 Chapter One
Introduction

I
t is the end of the world.

In the ruins of civilisation, survivors cling on,

hoping only to live another day.

But despite the near-total collapse of

everything, society is not totally
destroyed. Out of the ashes, in the
ruins of cities and towns, hunted
and besieged by frenzied hordes
of the Infected, there is life.
There is hope.

Through the ruins of society,

struggling to find food and live
another day, the survivors must
often make brutal choices choices
that could inevitably decide if they
become like the monsters theyre
fleeing from.

Role Playing Game

Welcome to Infected!, a tabletop
role playing game also called
anRPG.

What is an RPG? Well, think of it as a

natural extension of traditional storytelling.
Almost anyone who has sat around the fire
and listened to a truly great storyteller spin
his tale, or who has read a really great book that
they just cant put down, has also occasionally
wished that they, too, could live the adventure.

Well, now you can.

4
A role playing game puts your group of friends in
command of the story and the outcome. But the
fate of the storys characters are never certain in an
RPG because their fate is decided by the Players.
In any story or movie there are protagonists,
secondary characters, antagonists and a plot, right?
What You Need to Play
You only need a few things to get ready to play.
The Infected! rulebook
10-sided dice (2 minimum, but as many as 5 can
be necessary)
Paper
Blank character sheets or pre-made characters,
for all the players
Pencils and an eraser
Two or more people to play the game (one of
them to be the Narrator, who runs the game).
A quiet place to play (such as the kitchen table or
lounge room)
A few hours to play the game (3 or 4 is optimal)
In an RPG one person, called the Narrator, sets the
scene and directs the story, working out the setting
and the plot, and plays the parts of the secondary
characters and antagonists, called Non-Player
Characters. Meanwhile, the other people in the
gaming group, called the Players,
take on the role of the
protagonists, which are called
Player Characters or PCs, act
them out verbally, direct their
actions, and decide how they
react to the situations given them
by the Narrator.
Of course, if everyone could just say what
they wanted their characters to do, there would
be little excitement and plenty of arguments. For
instance, if the Narrator described a scene where
Three hundred angry soldiers are converging on
you, the players could just say, Oh, we kill them
all, no problem. This gets into a situation of You
cant do that! Yeah we can! and ruins the point
of the whole thing.
What makes a story exciting, riveting, and tense
enough to make you grip the edge of your chair,
or shout at the movie, or keep turning the
pages? The uncertainty of the outcome. Sure,
you know the protagonists are great warriors or
brave adventurers, but will they really be able to
overcome the odds thrown up against them? A good
author or director will be cunning enough to make
the end uncertain. After all, in real life good guys
can die and do.
This uncertainty, or chance factor, is represented by
a system of rules involving dice and statistics. The
statistics represent level of skill, strength and the
like the natural properties of a person or thing,
like the difference between a cannonball and a
tennis ball, or a commandos firearms skill and an
amateur paintballers. The higher the statistics, the
less chance there is of failure on any given attempt.
For instance, a commandos skill may be rated at 8
out of 10, whilst the paintballers might be just 4.
The dice represent chance, luck, and the million
things that can go wrong between your deciding
to do an action, and it taking effect. This chance of
failure is, naturally, increased when one attempts to
perform more difficult actions for instance, its
fairly easy to shoot a barn door from ten feet back,
but trying to hit a tin can at a hundred paces can be
a bit harder!
The Narrator is the arbitrator and
referee, ultimately determining
whether an action succeeds or
fails, and what the exact effects
are. However, it is very important
for the game to be one of cooperative
storytelling, where the players also take a role in
creating the way the story unfolds. The players
can be very creative in their backgrounds, their
histories, in suggesting ideas to the Narrator that
would further the story. The whole idea is for the
story to be as gripping and thought-provoking as
possible, and it is certainly not a game of Narrator-
vs-players.
5
 Chapter Two
Outbreak
T
he outbreak is effectively over. Though
most of the world is gone, the Infected
have been similarly obliterated.
They havent vanished, but their numbers are
comparatively few. Their packs hide in the ruins,
living in the dark places of the world, where they
have refuge from the retribution of survivors. The
deadly game of cat and mouse continues.
The Infected are true parasites and simply cannot
survive without a human population. Humans
provide their greatest, and most preferred, source
of food.
When people leave an area, the Infected leave soon
after, looking for their next meal ticket to stay
would mean starvation.
The society that has survived these past five
years is nothing like what it once was. Cities have
become quiet, desolate landscapes, with rubble
piling against the sides of once-
great buildings, now shattered and broken, their
windows staring out at those who scurry on past.
Grass and foliage are steadily encroaching on roads,
submerging cars and swamping buildings. Countless
vehicles quietly rust on highways and beside roads,
their paint fading, windows shattered. In some
places they have been flattened or shoved aside by
tanks, making narrow trails through the wreckage.
Despite over ninety-nine per cent of the world
perishing, there are still numerous communities. Life
finds a way. The siege by the Infected has lifted. The
fallout from contaminated areas has largely passed,
and plantlife is resurging once more.
Though in many places there is nothing but ruins,
there are still dozens of communities left standing in
what were once super-cities. Many of these places
are only a suburb away, but are effectively mini city-
states in their own right.
With many communities comes a constant stream
of traffic. Trade is vital, and merchants willing to
risk themselves on the roads can be well rewarded.
Some roads are short, well-used and relatively safe,
while others are long, empty and perilous. But it is
usually the perilous journey that also presents the
greatest opportunity.
Most communities revolve around their markets,
no matter what size. Strangers from out of town
are usually observed carefully to see if they
carry Calera, but most survivors are at least
somewhat resistant to it now, and know they
are passing a death-sentence on themselves
by entering a community with the sickness. Once
the strangers are cleared, the people gather around
to hear the latest news and try to bargain for what
they need.
While bartering is one of the major systems, there
are also a few fairly-well accepted currencies. Aptly,
one of these is bullets. Ammunition is valuable,
useful and becoming fairly rare. Almost no one is
making it anymore. In fact, anyone with common
sense will gather up their shell casings for reloading
or trade why waste valuable resources? The
availability of ammunition for weapons is now a
very important factor on whether people keep them
or trade them away. People may have ammunition
calibres that they cant use, or firearms that cant
use any of the calibres they have For this reason,
the more common and standardised rounds (like the
NATO 9mm and 5.56mm) are prized.
Gold, silver and precious stones are also still
valuable commodities. For some reason, people
have always considered such baubles to be valuable,
and so they are still just not nearly as much.
While most people developed a healthy paranoia
through the outbreak, it has been around a year
since the worst chaos died down. The old reflexes,
the gas masks, the precautions are all still there,
but people are starting to relax and learn to live
again. Danger and violence are out there, but most
communities are fairly safe, even if their living
conditions are tough.
Redundant military equipment is now
being put to different uses. Washing
lines are hung from old tank barrels,
aircraft carriers are used as
floating farms and communities,
beached ships make great
defensible settlements.
With society still alive, and
with so many disparate
groups, it is also inevitable
that politics and intrigue play
a constant role in survivor communities. Rival
factions support one power broker, then another.
Warlords sweep in, taking over a swathe of territory
before falling in bloody ruin. Governments try to
regain their power, with promises, bribes, threats
and through the creation of rebels against their
rivals. They have lost none of their cunning, and
they still have enough resources that few individual
communities can resist them alone.
There are more political players than community
leaders, however. There are trade barons,
information brokers, spymasters, military leaders,
mercenaries, bandits and the like.
There are also the leaders of new philosophies, cults
and sects. Some are based on older religions, while
others seem to have sprouted out of nothing. These
people cannot be simply ignored or stamped out.
Some have tried. The results are usually a prolonged
and dedicated insurrection killing a messiah is
only certain to turn them into a martyr.
Community politics can be a confusing mess of
ambitions, lies, spies and betrayal. Loyalty is now,
above all, a priceless commodity.
Despite this, communities that live in these ruins are
forced to help each other to survive. No one makes
it on their own. People need food, ammunition,
petrol, cars, and any other type of supplies you
can think of. Over the months and years, they have
come to the understanding that they may not like
their neighbours but if they dont work together,
theyll all die.
Of course, there are plenty of people
who think they can take what others
have without any consequences.
Sometimes they get away with it.
Other times they find themselves
dangling from a tree.
Not all townships have the resources to
build a comprehensive wall, so they rely
on other defences. Everyone barricades their
doors and windows at night, when the Infected
have a high chance of sneaking in. The Infected are
far more active at night time, when they can strike
without warning.
When an Infected pack is near, often the best
defence is to hunt them down. Where there are too
many, the only solution is to dig in and stay alive.
7
 Chapter Three
The Basics
S o what are the rock-bottom basics of
Infected? How does it work?
Here are the essential elements of the rules,
so you have a good idea of the mechanics when
gettingstarted.
Statistics
In order to determine what characters can or cant
do, they have statistics (which represent their
abilities) and dice are rolled with those statistics, to
represent the factor of luck.
Statistics, or stats are broken down into several
main sections:
Attributes: The main statistics of a character.
The statistics that show who they actually are,
their talents and inherent abilities, as opposed to
learned skills. These are such things as Brawn and
Intelligence. Attributes range from 110.
Skills: The myriad things a character learns in life.
These are such things as using a gun, running fast,
persuading people to do things, and so on. Skills
range from 010.
Circumstances: The situations a character finds
themselves in. Are they rich or poor? Famous or
nobody? Important or irrelevant? Circumstances
range from 010.
Advantages & Disadvantages: These are the
quirks and oddities of characters that make them
unique. Odd abilities that make someone better
at one particular thing (like chatting up a romantic
interest), or bad at something (like being a sucker
for a pretty face). They range from 110.
Vital Statistics: The core elements of a character
that show how physically and mentally healthy they
are. These are Health and Morality. Health ranges
from 240, Morality ranges from 110.
Rolling a Check
Many things dont have a chance of failure.
Driving to work every day doesnt do much
to tax you. Reloading a handgun while
youre relaxed at a firing range will not
have any chance of failure. But trying to
reload before a pack of Infected reach you
does have a chance of failure!
You make a roll or a check to determine the
results of an action. The Narrator will tell you when
you need to make a check, and what sort of check it
needs to be.
There are various levels to success. You could
succeed only barely (such as reloading just as the
Infected are on you), or you could succeed well (the
Infected are far enough away that you have a good
amount of distance to hit them with your first shot),
or spectacularly (you reload in two seconds flat).
Failing a roll can mean that you simply dont
succeed on your action, or it can mean that
something has gone wrong and your character is in
jeopardy.
Failing catastrophically (known as a Bungle see
page 48) means that the Narrator gets to say what
happens generally it means that you fail the
action with a complication.
Below are several tables that might be of use for
Narrators when trying to work out what happened
with the Bungle.
When To Roll a Check
The Narrator will tell you to make a roll at a
dramatic moment, when there is a reasonable
chance of failure. Again, think of the director of
a movie example. Routine activities are a part of
the story and provide the opportunity for plot and
character development, but are not dramatic.
How to Roll
Most Actions Roll 2D10
1D10 + Attribute/1D10 + Skill
Target Number is 11
Almost every action in the
Immersion RPG system
uses 2D10 to determine
its resolution. Sometimes
there can be more than
two (for instance, when firing
long bursts with assault rifles you can add Skill dice
to the roll to strike), but there are rarely less.
One die rolls for the Attribute, the other one rolls
for the Skill.
The Attribute is always referred to first, and the
Skill or other statistic being rolled with it is always
referred to second.
Also, the player must specify before rolling which
die is for which statistic (i.e. The purple one is for
Attributes, the blue one is for Skills.). That will help
clarify what is being rolled ahead of time.
Usually one die is rolled for an Attribute and one
for a Skill; however, there are occasional situations
where the roll is made with an Attribute and a
Circumstance, or two Attributes together.
At least one Attribute must always be rolled in
anyaction.
Occasionally the player may be able to roll with an
Attribute, Skill and Circumstance, getting 3 dice for
their action.
Primary Dice
The first 2D10 used are called the Primary Dice.
Sometimes you will roll more than two dice, but the
most important dice in that case are the Primary
Dice. This is important for Bonuses (on page47), as
the bonuses apply to the Primary Dice.
Add each D10 Individually to a
statistic
1D10 + Attribute/1D10 + Skill
Target Number is 11
Each D10 is paired individually with a statistic
(usually an Attribute and a Skill).
You roll and add the number on the first die to the
number of the Attribute and see what you get 11
or over is successful.
Then you add the number on the second die to the
Skill (or other statistic being used). Again, 11 or over
is successful.
Either die can attain successes. If one die fails, the
other can still succeed.
9
 10 or below is a failure, 11 is 1 success, 12 is 2
successes, 13 is 3 successes and so on. See the table
on page 37.

Gradients of success
The more successes you get, the better your action is. This means that you might do the action faster, more
efficiently, with more power or more skill. At the bottom of the scale are Bungles (see page 48 for more on
them), and above that the successes go through poor, average, great and just keep on going. When you make
a roll, you should then tell the Narrator, I got 4 successes or I got 6 successes. They will then tell you
the results your actions have (though feel free to get creative yourself! Check out page 213 for cooperative
storytelling).

Gradients of Success
Successes Result

Epic Bungle Catastrophe

(0 successes and roll 2 natural 1s)

Bungle Failure With Complication

(0 successes and roll a natural 1)

0 Fail
14 Fair Success
59 Good Success
1014 Great Success
1519 Incredible Success
20+ Perfection

Narrator Determines Result

Once an action has been rolled for, the Narrator determines the result. This might
result in new complications, if the roll only barely succeeded or it may succeed
magnificently, with no problems. Its up to the Narrator to determine exactly how the
action unfolds.

10
 Sample Roll

Roll 1D10 + Attribute vs 11

Roll 1D10 + Skill vs 11

+ Brawn 5 = 14 4 Successes

5 Successes Total

+ Athletics 7 = 11 1 Successes

Example:

Jackson is rolling a check for his character, who has an Attribute (Brawn, denoting raw muscle) of 5, and a Skill
(Athletics, denoting fitness, ability to handle oneself physically) of 7.

He rolls a 9 and a 4. The first die is added to his Attribute (Brawn) of 5, getting a 14 (4 successes).

Your Roll Successes

10 0
11 1
12 2
13 3
14 4
15 5
16 6
17 7
18 8
19 9
20 10

11
 Attributes
Innate qualities and abilities of a character. Costs x2 Experience.

Levels:

12 Poor 34 Average 56 Proficient 78 Expert 910 Masterful

Attribute Summary Example of Use

Hand to hand combat, melee combat, pushing, lifting, carrying,
Muscle, strength,
Brawn climbing, absorbing damage, flat-out sprints, kicking down doors
endurance
and even intimidation
Physical

Blocking, dodging, parrying, hiding, sneaking, crawling, getting

Nimbleness, speed
Dexterity and grace
through tight spaces, diving through windows, running through
rough terrain, shooting ranged weapons

Charm, Sheer force of personality charming, selling, conning,

Presence magnetism, force seducing, awing, terrifying others the steely gaze, the
of personality charming smile and physical attractiveness or lack thereof
Skill with words, Ones ability to use words, talk, connive, twist truths, persuade,
Social

argument,
Tact persuasion,
use logic and force of reason, charming with talk, barbed wit,
conniving subtle insults, insinuated threats and lies

Detecting the presence of a hidden watcher, noticing something

Perception, that just doesnt seem right, seeing the subtleties of an implied
Awareness keenness of the threat, detecting a lie, finding tracks in the wilderness, detecting
senses and mind an ambush
Mental

Working out how to construct a defensive wall, organising a

Smarts, mental
body of troops, working out a fugitives escape trail, figuring out
Intelligence aptitude and
acumen what a rivals next move is going to be, using logic, prediction,
planning

Patience, overcoming pain, managing to sleep, enduring mental

anguish and suffering can also be spent temporarily to gain a
Focus, intention, bonus of +2/+2 on a single roll, to negate damage penalties for a
Resolve drive, willpower scene, to automatically overcome shock, to act while dying and
so on. See page 52
Spiritual

For good fortune in searching, or just to determine if something

Fate, good fortune, good (or bad) happens. Can be temporarily spent to prevent
Luck blessedness a Potential Bungle, to gain a reroll of a non-Bungled roll, or to
automatically have something lucky happen. See page 52

12
 Skills
Things a character has learnt. Costs x1 Experience.
12 Poor 34 Average 56 Proficient 78 Expert 910 Masterful
Note that players should characterise what field their expertise is, if they are using a Skill that is very broad (such as
Knowledge). Describe what they trained in if someone is trying to do something that is technically part of the Skill, but
that they likely have no knowledge of or ability with, then the Narrator should simply give them a penalty to their roll.

Skill Examples of Use

Animal Handling Taming, commanding, working with animals

Athletics Running, jumping, climbing, swimming, crawling

Command Leading people, controlling groups, planning and organising, taking charge

Construction Building, mechanics, electrical, weapon and armour smithing, making clothes

Deception Lying, bending the truth, thinking fast, conning and tricking

Deduction Detecting untruths, sensing true motives, predicting someone, investigating, searching

Diplomacy Talking, persuading, convincing, cajoling, seducing, bargaining, earning trust

Dodge Ducking out of the way, avoiding strikes, weaving, bobbing

Domestic Organising a settlement, cooking, farming, mending clothes, handling supplies

Hand to Hand Fighting without weapons. Punching, kicking, headbutts, elbows.

Intimidation Frightening others, being imposing, staring down a bandit pack

Knowledge Local and academic knowledge, political knowledge, technical knowledge

Language Speaking a different tongue

Medical First aid, medicine, natural medicine, preventing infections, binding wounds, operating

Melee Using close combat weapons knives, swords, axes, spears, sticks, glass.

Military Understanding tactics, code words, setting up ambushes, laying mines.

Observation Using natural perceptions of the body seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting.

Perform Singing, dancing, playing music, making a profound speech

Pilot Driving cars and trucks, piloting planes and ships, riding horses, riding bikes

Ranged Shooting pistols, rifles, shotguns, bows, throwing javelins or knives.

Stealth Sneaking, hiding, sheltering from gunfire, following someone surreptitiously.

Rogue Picking locks, picking pockets, cracking safes, finding black market contacts

Wilderness Hunting, tracking, making shelters, surviving in the wilds

13
 The Character Sheet
The character sheet contains all of the information about your
character, from their physical abilities and combative prowess,
to their ability to coerce, woo, impress and lead. Here is a
brief rundown on the character sheet, while the following
chapter has more information on how to build a character in
full.
Attributes
110
Attributes are who and what a character is when it all boils
down. Smart or stupid, weak or strong, brave or cowardly,
its all here. Attributes represent a characters basic ability,
but not their training.
Most rolls require an Attribute and a Skill. Sometimes an
Attribute and Circumstance are rolled, or an Attribute
with another Attribute. See page #51.

Skills
110
Skills are what a character has learnt through training. It's
your hard-earned knowhow. While you might be quick with
your hands, you still wont be able to hit your target with a
pistol unless youve trained in it.
See page #52.

Base Initiative
2-20
Your Base Initiative determines how quick you are on
the draw, how fast you are to respond in a moment of crisis.
This is made up by combining your Dexterity and Awareness
Attributes. Weapons and situations in a combat can further
modify your Initiative score. See page #53.

Morality
110
Your Morality determines your humanity, your ethics level,
the degree to which you have degraded as a human being. It
is also a barometer of sanity. See page #43.

Health
240
Health represents how much physical damage a character
can take before theyre injured, incapacitated or killed.
Your Base Health is formed from Brawn combined with Luck,
and can be increased with Extra Health (Extra Health has a
maximum level equal to Base Health).
See page #54.

14
Name, Rank and Serial Number!
This information is stuff like the name of your character,
their Disposition (optional personality type see page
#50), the players name (thats you) and the Campaign
youre playing (a major story that youre playing).

Experience Costs
x1 or x2
This is the amount of Experience it costs to purchase the
initial level, at character creation. If you want to start with
the Athletics Skill at level 7, it will cost 7 Experience. If you
want you Brawn to be 6, it will cost 12 Experience.
After character creation, each new level must be individually
purchased (so, to go from Athletics 7 to 8 would cost 8 Exp).
See page #9.

Circumstances
110
Circumstances represent the situations the character is
in. Wealth, reputation, allies, contacts, team mates, pets,
weapons are all Circumstances. Sometimes these influence
the game and story, other times they can provide bonuses or
even be rolled as an Extra Die.
See page #49 for Circumstances and page #47 for Extra Dice.

Advantages & Disadvantages

110
Advantages & Disadvantages (or A&D), represent the
unique quirks, abilities and failings of individual characters.
Such things as a glass jaw, excellent hearing, an addiction,
an enemy and even being an irritating person can all be
Advantages & Disadvantages.
Advantages cost Experience like any statistic. Disadvantages
give bonus Experience (but only at character creation).
Characters can gain most Advantages or remove
Disadvantages through game play, or with Experience,
though some can only be taken at character creation.
See page #48.

Experience
These two boxes represent your total amount of experience
gained and your unused experience. Every time you gain
experience, you should add it to the number in the right
hand box. The number in the left hand box is experience
youve earned but not yet expended on increased statistics.
See page #9.

15
 Circumstances
Situations around the character people they know, stuff they own, their wealth and influence.
See more detail on page 71.
Costs x1 Experience.

12 Poor 34 Fair 56 Enviable 78 Impressive 910 Legendary

Circumstance Examples of Use

Asking allies for information, to broker a deal, to come to your aid, to lend you
Allies
money, to find out who wants to kill you and why.

Equipment Kit, gear, medical supplies, food, vehicles

Having soldiers, servants, slaves, workers telling them to attack someone, to back
Minions
you up, to menace somebody, to search for something or be part of your network

Having well-trained animals loyal to you pets may be used to attack someone, for
Pets
defence, to sniff out a scent, to track down quarry or to detect Infected

Frightening or awing someone with your name alone, making a grand entrance,
Reputation
being really impressive

Status Pulling rank, commanding troops, being a diplomat, having station or privilege.

Team Mate Having a buddy to back you up

Buying things, bribing people, organising a trade, living affluently (or just getting by),
Wealth
being a big deal or an impoverished vagabond

Weapons Firearms, armour, swords, bows, grenades, ammunition, artillery.

Attributes Help Determine Character

Attributes determine who a character really is, deep
down. They give clues for role playing, and help to
make it that much easier to depict characters.
For instance, having a character with a high
Intelligence naturally means theyre quite
smart, but also having a low Resolve will mean
theyre somewhat scatterbrained, forgetful and
sometimesfoolish.
Having a high Tact and a low Awareness can mean
that a person keeps talking well past the point that
they should. They dont notice when their audience
has gone cold.
These are all different tools for the Narrator and
their players to breathe life into their characters,
and the world.
16
 Vital Statistics
The physical and mental health of a character.
Extra Health Costs x2 Experience

12 Poor 34 Fair 56 Enviable 78 Impressive 910 Legendary

Stat Description

A characters physical toughness. How healthy they are and how much damage they
can take and still keep functioning, or stay alive.
Combine Brawn and Luck together and you will get your characters Base Health
(from 220). You can add to this initial value by purchasing Extra Health (Extra
Health costs x2 Experience, just like Attributes). Extra Health has a maximum level
equal to Base Health. Health is divided as evenly as possible into three categories:
Health
Battered, Injured and Wounded.
240
When damage is received, it is first subtracted from Battered Health, then Injured
Health, and finally Wounded Health.
Battered Health has a chance to heal once per day, Injured once per week and
Wounded once per month.
Characters on 0 Health are dying.
Characters who go negative in Health more than their Brawn Attribute are dead.

Your characters sanity, honour and humanity (optional stat).

Choose your Morality level from 110.
Morality
Characters who act against their Morality may be forced to make Morality checks
110
or lose points. The lower a character's Morality, the more insane, evil and mentally
unstable they are.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Quirks, oddities of a character, unique traits, merits, flaws, perks and penalties.
At character creation Advantages Cost x1 Exp per level, Disadvantages give a bonus of x1 Exp per level.
During game play both cost x3 their level.

12 Poor 34 Fair 56 Enviable 78 Impressive 910 Legendary

Stat Description

Certain strengths unique to the character. A hard head, a nose for profit, an
Advantage unshakeable will, can all be represented by taking the appropriate advantage, which
will give bonuses to certain rolls, or allow unique abilities.

Weaknesses or flaws of a character. Gullible, a guilty conscience, a weak eye,

missing teeth, a bad back can all be represented by taking the appropriate
Disadvantage
disadvantage, which will give penalties to particular rolls, or force checks to be
made.

17
 statistic Levels

All statistics range from 010, which span the limits
of human ability. It is technically possibly to get
above 10. Here is a quick way of interpreting what
those levels represent.
Statistic Levels
Level Description
0 Completely Unskilled
Individuals who have the discipline, drive and
diligence to train themselves into that high a level
are few and far between. A character with a statistic
at level 7 or 8 would be a high level professional
an Olympian, champion boxer, a veteran sniper. A
character with a statistic at level at 9 or 10 would
be a legend like Achilles, or Musashi individuals
considered superhuman, and about whom stories,
movies and legends are constructed around.

12 Poor
The Narrator Determines What Stats to Roll
34 Average
When faced with a dramatic situation that demands
56 Proficient a check, the Narrator is the one who determines
78 Expert what sort of roll the player needs to make.

910 Masterful
Note that few characters will ever reach 7 or 8
with most of their statistics, let alone 9 or 10,
which would be considered virtually impossible.
The players should describe what they are doing,
to best set the scene and give the Narrator a good
idea of what sort of check would be fitting which
Attribute and Skill would be the best combination.

18
When they decide this, they should tell the player,
Make a Brawn plus Athletics check or Make a
Presence plus Intimidation check.
Of course, sometimes the players views on the
check wont fit with the Narrators, but in that case
its the Narrator that makes the final decision.
See page 128 for examples of different actions and
what stats they use.
Overlap of Skills
There are many Skills that can potentially be used
for the same action just performed in different
ways. You could use Stealth to follow a target from
afar, or Deception to pretend not to be following
them in a crowd. The way the player describes how
they are performing the action is what the Narrator
should use to determine what statistics to use in the
roll, as well as how the action turns out.
Rolling More than two dice
Sometimes you will be able to roll more than
two dice. Usually this is if you have a significant
advantage in some way it could be when using
an automatic weapon on fully automatic, or when
using a Circumstance to give you an edge.
+ Tact 6 = 10 0 Successes
+ Diplomacy 5 = 11 1 Success
+ Wealth 8 = 15 5 Successes
6 + Awareness 6 = 16 6 Successes
Successes
Total
Example: Felicia is a tycoon, with her Wealth
Circumstance at 8. She tries to persuade a
settlement guard to let her pass (rolling Tact/
Diplomacy), and adds a little monetary incentive
to the mix. Because of this the Narrator lets her
add another die to the roll, at the level of Wealth
(1D10+8).
So now she would roll Tact/Diplomacy/Wealth.
Her Tact is 6, her Diplomacy 5, and her Wealth 8.
She rolls a 4, 6 and 7.
Ending up with 6 successes total. In this case, the
Narrator decided that a passive roll could be a made
(one in which the player rolls against a set target
of successes, rather than having the opponent
make a roll to resist her see page 46 for more
information).
"Natural"
Whatever a die actually rolls is called its natural
number, as opposed to a number gained
from a modifier. If you roll a natural 10, or a
natural 1, these can cause you to automatically
succeed or automatically fail with that die, as
mentionedbelow.
Rolling a Natural 10
Rolling a natural 10 means youve done particularly
well. At this point you can pump the air and shout,
Natch TEN!
Rolling a natural 10 gives an additional +1 success.
This will automatically result in at least 1 success, no
matter if you would normally have succeeded or not
(unless no check was possible).
+1 (for natural 10)
+ Diplomacy 5 = 12 2 Successes
9
Successes
Total
19
 Example: Jacqui peers into the corn field, trying to
make out movement. Her Awareness is 6 and her
Observation is 5. She rolls a 10 and a 7!
The 10 plus her Awareness of 6 is a 16, so would
normally give 6 successes, but because it was a
natural 10, it gives a +1, so its 7 successes.
The 7 plus her Observation of 5 reaches 12, so thats
another 2 successes.
9 successes total.
She sees movement, clear as anything and then
the glint of metal... which appears to be a scope!
Rolling a Natural 1
Rolling a natural 1 is an automatic failure for that
die. No matter the number of bonuses, it will not
succeed.
+ Intelligence 10 = 1 Fail
+ Knowledge 7 = 11 1 Success
1
Success
Total
Example: Nick is passing through a region and sees
a local gang sign painted on the wall. He wants to
know more about the gang, and so the Narrator
allows him to roll an Intelligence/Knowledge check
to see what he finds out.
Nick is an absolute genius, with an Intelligence of
10, and Knowledge 7!
Unfortunately, Nick rolls a 1 and a 4.
1 plus the 10 equals 11, which would ordinarily be a
success, but a natural 1 is always a failure, so that
die gets no successes.
Luckily, the 4 +7 totals 11, which equals 1 success.
20
Passive/Opposed Rolls
A roll can either be passive or opposed.
Passive Roll
Most rolls are passive rolls. Passive rolls are where
the player makes a roll and no one attempts to
oppose it. The only roll made is that by the player.
In fact, most rolls are passive and require only 1
success. However, for particularly difficult actions,
the Narrator can determine that more successes are
needed.
This is generally used when the player is trying
to perform an action that does not involve living,
resisting opponents such as climbing a tree,
running, finding food, or similar actions. It can
also be against unimportant NPCs (Non-Player
Characters characters controlled by the Narrator).
Passive rolls can have penalties, if they are difficult.
See page 48.
3
5 2
Annabelle
Penalty
Example: Annabelle wants to persuade a local
farmer to part with his crops on loan because she
has no trade goods. The Narrator decides that this
is a bit difficult, so gives her a penalty of 2. She
manages to get 5 successes total, so 3 successes
after the penalty.
Opposed Roll
An opposed roll occurs when the player rolls
against the Narrators roll (or another players). The
Narrator will usually be rolling for another character
in the game, who is attempting to oppose the player
in some way.
In this case, successes from each side cancel each
other out. Whoevers still left with successes
manages to achieve their action, to a greater or
Level of Bonus
lesser degree.
Bonus Description

1 +1/+0 Minor
3 +1/+1 Moderate
2
Joe Bandit +2/+1 Major

+2/+2 Dramatic
Example: Joe is attempting to shove a door shut
with his shoulder, while a bandit tries to stop
him. Both of them roll Brawn/Athletics. Joe gets 3
successes, while the bandit gets 2 successes. Joes + Presence 6 (7) = 13 3 Successes
final tally is 1 success, so he slams the door shut.

+ Knowledge 7 (8) = 12 2 Successes

5
Bonuses and Penalties Successes
Total
Certain things can make an action more or less
difficult. For instance, jumping over a moderate gap
Example: Jillian is talking to a young man from her
would require a check, but diving from a moving
town who shes trying to convince to shoot a couple
train would be far more difficult and leaping from
of thugs who have been giving her some trouble.
one train onto another, while concussed, would be
Shes a former model, with a high Presence and the
extremely difficult. Likewise, shooting at a target
Advantage Striking Looks. He is awed by her, so
with a scope and with a lot of time to aim would be
the Narrator gives +1/+1 on her Presence/Diplomacy
easier than shooting without a scope at a distant,
check.
fast-moving target!
Her Presence is 6, which becomes 7, and her
To represent this, Narrator assigns bonuses and
Diplomacy 7., which becomes 8.
penalties.
The Narrator decides to make it a passive roll,
Bonuses needing as many successes as the young mans
Resolve, which is 4.
For favourable circumstances that make an action
easier, bonuses can be given to the roll. These are She rolls a 6 and a 4, getting 5 successes total (6
given to the Primary Dice, and are divided between + 7 = 13, so 3 successes. 4 + 8 = 12, so another 2
them as evenly as possible. successes. The kid is impressed, doesnt know what
to say, and eventually agrees.
These look like +1/+0, +1/+1, etc.
The bonus on a die can never get higher than +10.
For example, +1/+0 would add +1 to the first die
(the Attribute), but no bonus to the second die (the Penalties
Skill).
Things that make an action more difficult are
+1/+1 would give +1 to the Attribute, and +1 to the represented by penalties, which are subtracted
Skill.

21
 from the total number of successes made by the
character.
Fxample: Jillian is trying to hide from a group of
looters going through a building shes in. However,
she hurt her knee earlier, which is affecting her.
She is suffering 1 to her Dexterity-based actions.
Rolling Dexterity/Stealth to stay hidden, she gets 5
successes. She takes 1 success off this, and gets 4
total.
+ Dexterity 6 = 12 2 Successes
+ Stealth 6 = 13 3 Successes
A Bungle is a stuff up. A major mistake. Dropping the
grenade on your foot, shooting your pal by accident,
getting a gun jam or some other catastrophe.
If a character gets no successes on their roll, and
also rolls a natural 1 with at least one of the D10s,
then its a Potential Bungle.
Spend a Point of Luck
To prevent the Bungle from happening, the
character may spend a point of Luck. If they dont,
then the Bungle takes place.
+ Dexterity 5 = 1 Fail

1 Successes + Athletics 6 = 10 0 Successes

4
Successes
Total Potential
Bungle

Example: Garth is running from charging Infected.

If penalties reduce a roll to 0 successes or even less,
To see if he can evade them the Narrator has him
then the action fails.
roll a Dexterity/Athletics check. The Narrator rolls a
Level of Penalty Dexteriy/Athletics check for the Infected as an
opposed roll.
Penalty Description
Unfortunately, Garth rolls a 1 and a 4. Not only did
he get 0 successes with one die, but the other die
12 Mild
was a natural 1! That makes it a Potential Bungle!
34 Challenging
Garth doesnt have any Luck left, so he has no
56 Very Difficult chance to prevent the Bungle from taking place.
The Narrator decides to use the chart on page 50,
78 Heroic
and has Garth roll 1D10. He rolls a 3, which is a
910 Impossible Faceplant. The Narrator determines that Garth has
slipped on some loose rubble and sprawled flat. The
Infected are now right on him and autima gain the
initiative.
Bungles How bad the Bungle is can be determined by rolling
No Success and Natural 1 = Potential Bungle a D10 with 1 the worst result and 10 the best
possible result. See the chart on page 50 for some
No Success and two Natural 1s = Potential Epic
ideas.
Bungle

22
The Narrator should use their
logic when determining the effect
of a Bungle. A clever Narrator will
use a Bungle as a complication to
further enhance the story. It can make
the situation more gripping, more intense
and dangerous and add further problems to the
characters adventures. They can also be fatal...

Epic Bungle
An Epic Bungle occurs when you roll two natural 1s,
and no successes (in case you were rolling three or
more dice). If this happens, the only way you can
reduce the action to a mere failure is by spending
two points ofLuck.
+ Awareness 6 = 1 Fail
+ Deduction 6 = 1 Fail
Epic
Bungle
Example: Garth is trying to work out what a new
player in town is after. The guy seems like a hard
type, who just wandered in from the ruins, but when
he talked to Garth before he seemed to be an okay
guy. Whats his story?
In talking to him, Garth rolls an Awareness/
Deduction check to see what he can determine
about the guy. His Awareness is 6 and his Deduction
is 6, but unfortunately Garth rolls two 1s!
Now Garth faces a potential Epic Bungle. To stop
this he would have to spend 2 points of Luck, but he
decides to save them for later.
This means that it is indeed an Epic Bungle, and
Garth hears only great things about this new guy.
In fact, they get drinking together, and Garth comes
to trust him implicitly... never realising that this guy
is a cannibal looking for fresh meat and hes just
found his next target.
Narrating
a Scene
With
Bungles
The Narrator
needs to use
their judgment
as to how and when to
apply the results of the Bungle.
For example, just because Garth had an Epic Bungle
does not mean the results are immediately applied.
Nor does it indicate the manner in which the Bungle
will occur. So the dubious individual Garth was
questioning may wait until the story takes them to
a point where he can betray the group, or it may be
that the guy is normally fine but goes off the deep
end (to Garths detriment) any time a trigger event
occurs eating certain foods, asking him to do
particular things, and so forth.
Players should also ensure they keep in character
when they roll a Bungle. While they may know that
the scary men in the woods are certainly up to no
good, their characters trust them anyway, and walk
blithely on to their dooms... let it run out. Things
that are obvious to people watching the movie or
reading the book are not always obvious to those
in it. That doesnt lessen the interest of the game
though!

23
 Spiritual Attributes
Spiritual Attributes are the deep wells of inner
fortitude that separates player characters from
normal people. Generally only Player Characters
and important Non-Player Characters (particularly
antagonists) can spend Spiritual Attributes. At the
Narrators discretion, though, anyone can spend
Spiritual Attributes.
These are spent temporarily to gain a bonus, a
reroll, negate a penalty and so on. However, they
only recover at a rate of 1 per day, so spend them
wisely!
Spiritual Attributes
Resolve
Spend a point to gain +2/+2 to one roll
Spend a point to remove damage, pain or
exhaustion penalties for a scene
Spend a point to be able to function during a
scene while dying (4 on all rolls)
Luck
Spend a point to prevent a Bungle
Spend a point to reroll of a non-Bungled roll
Example: Jann uses a point of Resolve to gain +2/+2
to her Presence/Command check in front of the
whole town, trying to convince them to back her
for leader. Her Presence is 4 (+2, so now 6) and her
Command is 3 (+2, so now 5).
Example: Davis is down to Wounded Health and is
suffering 2 on all rolls. He gets attacked again by
a band of reavers, so to fight them off he spends a
point of Resolve and has no damage penalties for
the remainder of thescene.
Example: Victor is dying. Hes been reduced to 2
Health and is about to go unconscious when he
spends a point of Resolve to keep functioning. Even
then, hes on 4 to all rolls, and can only crawl and
move very slowly.
24
Example: While shooting at an Infected, Alex rolls
a 1 and 4 no successes and a natural 1. Thats
a Potential Bungle. To negate that, she can spend
a point of Luck and just make it a failure, with no
disastrous consequences. She decides to do so,
meaning her shot merely went wide, and nothing
disastrous happened.
Example: Alex gets only 1 success as she jumps for a
ledge. She was trying to be quiet, but that poor roll
will mean she makes a lot of noise. Instead of that,
she decides to spend a point of Luck and roll it again
this time she gets 5 successes and is much more
quiet.
Example: Richard spends a point of Resolve to give
himself a +2/+2 to his roll to charm a local warlord.
However, he failed on the roll, meaning he will
come across like a total bootlicker. To stop that
eventuality, he decides to spend a point of Luck and
gain a reroll. However, this time he doesnt gain the
+2/+2 Resolve bonus to the roll.
Example: Andrew has Bungled his attempt to sneak
past an Infected pack. If he wanted to reroll it, he
would have to spend 2 points of Luck the first to
prevent it from being a Bungle, and the second to
gain the reroll.
Recovery:
Spiritual Attributes recover at a rate of 1 point per
day.
Awarding Points
Narrators can award players with a restored point of
Resolve and Luck for performing some particularly
heroic action, surviving something suicidal or
something equally inspiring.
A point of both is recovered when this occurs.
 Vital Statistics

Health represents physical wellbeing and how Once youve calculated your Total Health, you then
much damage one can take before they are injured, need to divide it in thirds as evenly as possible
incapacitated or killed. with the larger numbers going in the Wounded and
Injured boxes. These thirds represent the different
levels of your Health.
Base Health = Brawn + Luck
Extra Health costs Exp x2 (x2 total level at Battered
character creation, or x2 the new level during Total
Health Injured
game play). The maximum Extra Health that can be
purchased is equal to the characters Base Health. Wounded
Total Health = Base Health + Extra Health
On your character sheet it will look like this:
Health is calculated by taking Brawn and Luck and
Permanent Current
adding them together. This represents not only

Injured Battered
how physically tough someone is, and how much
sheer punishment their body can endure, but also
the oddities of fate that mean the person is only
battered or grazed, and not killed. 1

Life can be weird like that. There have been cases in

the world where people have been shot repeatedly,
1
Wounded

sometimes at point blank range and even in the

head, and still managed to survive while others
have fallen over, cracked their skulls and died
instantly.
Damage suffered is first deducted from Battered
Extra Health Health, then Injured Health, and then finally
Wounded Health.
Extra Health is purchased with Experience, either
at character creation or during game play, just like The Permanent box is for the level of Health that
purchasing Attributes. the character normally has, when uninjured. The
Current box is for how much Health the character
At character creation, this costs Experience x2 the
has after suffering any form of Damage.
target level of Extra Health.
Example: Joey wants to start with 4 Extra Health.
Healthy
This will cost 8 Experience.
First, the character is Healthy and has suffered no
During game play, this costs Experience x2 each
damage.
newlevel.

Example: Joey has 4 Extra Health. Now during the

game he wants to increase that to 5. It will cost him
10 Experience to go from 4 to 5.
25
 Battered
If the character is slightly damaged, theyll have lost
Battered Health. Theyve got some nasty bruises
and shallow cuts and grazes, but nothing serious.
Injured
If the character suffers more serious injuries, they
will lose Injured Health. Maybe theyve fractured a
bone, torn ligaments, received deep bruises or lost
teeth. The character is in substantial pain, but can
still function fairly well.
At this point, the character will suffer 1 successes
to all rolls.
Wounded
When the character suffers possibly life-threatening
harm, then they will lose Wounded
Health. They might have broken
bones, been concussed, stabbed,
bleeding. This is serious
damage, and is usually when
people go to the emergency
ward.
At this point the character
will suffer an additional 1
successes to all rolls.
Dying
Beyond Wounded (0 and negative
Health) is dying.
A character can have negative Health equal to
their Brawn Attribute.
The character is unconscious, crippled, unable to act
in any way and likely to die without expert medical
help. See page 99 for information on recovering
fromdying.
Spending Resolve
If the character spends a point of Resolve, they
will be able to continue to act in a limited way for
26
the dramatic scene theyre in. This means they can
attempt to tend their wounds, drag themselves
somewhere, or talk to someone, etc.
To perform difficult actions (such as crawling up
a ladder, or shooting a pistol at someone), they
must spend a point of Resolve each time the action
is taken. No multi actions are possible and the
character suffers 4 on all such rolls (or more if their
existing damage penalties are worse).
Further Resolve cannot be spent to negate these
penalties.
Beyond dying... a character is dead.
Taking Damage
Every point of damage a character suffers subtracts
a point of Health. These are taken from the left
box first (Battered), right box. So Battered
is reduced first, then when it is at 0,
Injured starts getting reduced, then
Wounded. If the damage received
is more than the damaged Health
box can sustain, then the damage
carries over to the next Health
box.
However, occasionally someone
may be in a situation where
they suffer a serious wound,
with no other damage taken
(i.e. youre strapped to a chair and
have your thumb cut off... ouch). In this case,
the damage might go directly to the Injured or
Wounded boxes.
Damage Penalties
The moment a character receives even a single
point of damage in a Health box, they then receive
the penalty inside that box to all rolls. These are
cumulative. So if you have Battered and Injured
damage, you will suffer 1 to all rolls. If you have
Battered and Wounded damage, you will also suffer
1 to all rolls. Having Injured and Wounded Health
damage means you will suffer 2 to all rolls. Having losing -1 Health every day. It really depends on the
just Wounded damage means you have 1 to all circumstance.
rolls.
To recover on their own, the victim can spend a
point of Resolve and make a Brawn/Luck check at
Healing 4, with an additional 1 for each point they are
negative. If successful, the character returns to 1
Brawn (+Medical)
Health and miraculously stabilises.
Fortunately, bodies do heal.
If the victim goes negative more than their Brawn
To recover Health Points, roll a Brawn check level, then they die.
(+Medical, if medical attention is being provided and
Others can assist the character by making an
the character is resting. Even if they are stitching up
Intelligence/Medical check, with the same modifiers
their own wounds, it is necessary for them to stop
as above. If they are assisting the dying characters
to do so, and to have the equipment necessary to
roll, then every two successes gives +1/+0 to the
do it.)
dying characters roll. Success indicates that the
Every 2 successes gained on the roll recovers 1 character has recovered to 1 Wounded Health. They
Health (damage penalties dont count on this roll). can make one check every time the character is
about to lose another Health from dying (so every
The time it takes to heal depends on the severity of
minute, hour or day or whatever the Narrator has
the characters injuries. The following is how often
determined as an appropriate time period).
they may roll a healing check:
For particularly brutal wounds, like a slashed artery,
Battered: Once per day.
severed limb, brain injuries or that sort of thing, the
Injured: Once per week.
Narrator should apply an additional penalty to the
Wounded: Once per month.
roll, from 1 to 4.
If a character is not able to properly rest for the
Example: Jamey has just been stabbed by a bandit
duration of that Health boxs recovery time, then
and robbed. Hes left bleeding and dying alone. Hes
the Narrator may give them penalties to their
currently on 3 Health. The Narrator decides that
healing checks, to represent the added stresses and
hell lose another 1 Health every ten minutes.
aggravations they are inflicting on their wounds.
Jamey has 4 Resolve, and 5 Brawn. He spent 2
Recovering from Dying Resolve during the fight, so he only has 2 Resolve
left, and therefore two chances to recover on his
When dying, a character is unconscious and helpless
own.
and not likely to recover without outside help.
Ten minutes goes by and he spends 1 Resolve and
Characters on 0 will lose an additional 1 Health
rolls Brawn/Luck against a penalty of 7. He gets
every minute, hour or day, depending on the
3 successes, so he fails, dropping to 4 Health.
severity of their wounds (Narrators discretion).
Another ten minutes goes by and he spends his last
Some injuries kill more swiftly than others. A Resolve to roll Brawn/Luck again (against 8), but
character with a severed limb is likely to suffer again he fails and drops to 5 Health.
1 Health per minute, whereas a character who
Hes only got ten minutes left to live and no way to
fell off a building may slip away more slowly due
recover by himself anymore when out of the blue
to more concussive impact and less blood loss,
come a group of survivors who tend to him.

27
They make an Intelligence/Medical check with a 34 Selfish
penalty of 9 and get 10 successes! Its just enough.
56 Moral
They staunch the wound, Jamey returns to 1 Health
and stabilises. What a miracle! 78 Honourable
910 Saint-Like
Morality Morality Checks
Morality measures a characters ethical level. His
If a character ends up acting worse than their
humanity, empathy and sanity too. In this horrid
Morality level indicates, they must make a Morality
dark era, all too often people will do whatever it
check. Note that if their Morality is already really
takes to survive - and end up destroying themselves
low, they would have to do something truly
spiritually.
despicable (according to their current level of
Morality is an index of a characters mental morals) to warrant a Morality check.
wellbeing. It is their sanity, as well as their scruples.
Making a Morality Check:
A characters starting Morality sits wherever the
player wishes. The character can be a paragon of Roll one die.
virtue, or a bitter and twisted individual.
If it is equal to or greater than the characters
The following is a loose moral code for the levels
Morality, the character loses a point of Morality
of Morality. There can, of course, be exceptions to
permanently.
these guidelines like the black-hearted bandit
with a strict code of honour. Again, we leave these
Narrator may add penalties to the roll for
nuances totally up to you.
particularly harsh acts. This makes the target
number of the Morality lower.
Morality Level:
12 Brutal
 Hardness Rating
All objects, including humans, have a Hardness
Rating. This ranges from 0 to 5, and represents how
capable something is of dealing or withstanding
damage. For instance, no normal man could punch
through solid steel, or even significantly harm it. On
the other hand, if an unarmoured person was shot
with a firearm, or stabbed, they would be unable to
absorb the impact at all.
Whenever damage is dealt, you should compare HR
to see if the target can absorb the damage or if the
weapon can actually harm the target.
HR 0
Soft targets humans and animals.
Unarmed strikes.
HR 1
Hard, blunt objects.
Weapons include bats, bricks, sticks, clubs.
Low speed impacts.
Sport armour, wooden doors and plaster walls
can absorb this sort of damage.
HR 2
Light firearms, knives, axes, bows, hammers,
spiked knuckledusters, high speed impacts.
Light ballistic armour, light metal plating,
metal doors and vehicles can absorb this sort
of damage.
HR 3
Armour piercing weapons.
Things that can absorb HR 3 damage includes
most military armour, sandbags, armoured cars
and very solid metal.
HR 4
HR 4 weapons are powerful enough to blast
down buildings, punch through brick, concrete
and metal. These are heavy firearms .30 calibre
machineguns, napalm, .50 sniper rifles, grenades
and so on.
Objects that absorb HR 4 damage are armoured
personnel carriers, military armoured cars, light
tanks and other vehicles that are largely bulletproof,
as well as very thick banks of earth or stonework.
HR 5
HR 5 weapons are
monstrous, able to destroy
houses, large buildings and even blocks at a single
strike. HR 5 weapons include missiles, bombs,
mines, artillery and main battle tank cannons.
Objects that can absorb HR 5 damage are immune
to small arms and can lumber through a battlefield
with impunity. These are such things as main battle
tanks and battleships.
29
 Examples of HR
Handgun (HR 2) vs Humvee (HR 4) Fist (HR 0) vs Metal Door (HR 2)
The handgun can shoot at the humvee all day, Defender A man pounds at a metal door, kicking and
but its not going to do anything but make a few 2 thumping, but is unable to actually damage it
scratches. No damage is possible. Above though could perhaps break a lock.

Assault Rifle (HR 3) vs Humvee (HR 4) Bat (HR 1) vs Car (HR 2)

An assault rifle fires into a humvee. The humvee
is heavily armoured and 1 HR level higher
than the assault rifle. If the assault rifle did 12
damage, then it would be halved to 6, and then
the humvee would get an absorb roll.
Someone smashing at a car (not its windows,
Defender but the car itself), would do half their damage
1 to it (rounded up). Then a roll could be made
Above for the car, with each success negating 1 point
of damage.

Fist (HR 0) vs Person (HR 0) Assault Rifle (HR 3) vs

Someone punches another person, dealing 5
Equal
damage. The defender can roll Brawn to absorb,
with each success negating 1 damage.
Ballistic Vest (HR 3)
A bandit with an assault rifle shoots a soldier,
dealing 7 damage. The soldier rolls to absorb
and gets 6 successes, absorbing 6 damage.

Compare Hardness Ratings

Defender 2+ HR Above Attacker cannot deal damage

Defender 1 HR Above Attacker deals half damage

Equal HR Deal damage and absorb as normal

Attacker 1 HR Above Defender absorbs half

Attacker 2+ HR Above Defender cannot absorb

Assault Rifle (HR 3) vs Bat (HR 1) vs Human (HR 0)

Bulletproof Vest (HR 2)
An assault rifle fires at someone wearing a
civilian bulletproof vest, designed to stop light
pistols. If the defender absorbed 5 damage,
that would be reduced to a mere 3.
Attacker Someone takes a bat to a survivor, dealing
1 8damage. Ouch. The defender rolls to
absorb with their Brawn and manages to get
Above
5 successes! Sadly, this is reduced to 3 (half,
rounded up), so they end up taking 5 damage.

Handgun (HR 2) vs Human (HR 0) Heavy Machinegun (HR 4) vs

An assault rifle fires at someone wearing a Attacker Car (HR 2)
civilian bulletproof vest, designed to stop light A heavy machinegun fires into a moving car. It
pistols. If the defender absorbed 5 damage,
2 does 15 damage, and the car cannot absorb any
Above
that would be reduced to a mere 3. of the damage.

30
 Combat
Combat is a very particular set of actions. Because
it is often life and death, there are a few more rules
to it.
Warning
Combat in Infected! is brutal and often very fast,
just like in real life. Characters will not survive
long if they dont think tactically and logically.
Narrators should be sure to warn their players
about this and advise them to use caution when
approaching a combat.
If you want a more heroic style of game, where
the players will live through hails of gunfire, then
try our heroic level Health on page 99 and heroic
healing times on page 97
The Round
In combat and other tense situations, its not always
easy to work out whether a character is going to
able to do an action. Hence, we have rounds. We
use these rounds to clearly work out what can be
done, and to work out the order characters can act
in.
A round is a short period of time during the frenzy
of combat. However, due to the nature of such
high-speed situations, its really impossible to
accurately say how much time passes in the time
it takes people to do things. When looking back,
most people can barely even remember exactly
what happened in a fight, let alone how long it was
it could have been five seconds or thirty, theyre
usually not sure.
Therefore, were pretty flexible on how long it takes
to do something in a round. We usually put it at
between two to six seconds. But it could be longer.
Its about enough time to perform one substantial
action.
During a round, a character is normally only able to
perform one basic action (called a Standard Action,
see below).
The sequence of a round is:
1) Roll for Initiative
2) Roll to Strike
3) Roll to Defend
4) Add Weapon Damage
5) Roll to Absorb
6) Deal Damage
While only one in-game action may have happened
in a round, such as a single punch, this is only
representative of the number of blows, punches,
sidesteps, curses and blocks that might occur during
those few seconds. A character might actually have
been hit three or four times, but we still only roll
once the details of what happened we leave up
the player and Narrator, the rules only try to loosely
represent it, not recreate it blow for blow.
Actions
Characters can perform one Standard Action per
round without penalty
Standard Action: Anything that takes
concentration to perform throwing a rock,
punching someone, firing a gun, drawing a knife.
Standard Actions take place in your own turn.
Free Action: Things that take no time at all. Like
dropping something or shouting a warning. These
do not cost actions.
Defensive Action: Attempts to defend against an
incoming attack, by blocking it, or getting out of the
way. So long as one hasnt acted yet in a round, and
so long as they are aware of the incoming attack,
they can abort their action and do a Defensive
31
 Action instead. That Defensive Action can count
against all incoming attacks, with a 1 for each
beyond the first.
Multiple Actions: Characters can perform
more than one action in a round. These are each
Standard Actions or Defensive Actions, but they
have penalties.
The first action suffers 1 per the total number of
actions being performed. Each subsequent action
suffers an additional 1.
Multiple Actions
The first action suffers 1 per total number
of actions being performed. Each action
beyond that suffers an additional 1.
Actions Penalties
2 2/3
3 3/4/5
4 4/5/6/7
5 5/6/7/8
Opposed Actions: These are a type of Standard
Action or Defensive Action. Theyre simply an
Opposed Roll done within a round (see page 46). For
instance, shooting at someone who attempts to
dodge, is an Opposed Action. If they get more
successes than you, then you miss. If you get more
successes than them, you hit.
Example: Maxine sees two Infected charging at her
from different directions. She decides to put a single
bullet in each one and suffers 2 to strike the first
and 3 to strike the second.
Example: Andrea is throwing a grenade over a wall,
and then attempting to dodge gunfire from a soldier
and then after that she wants to kick that soldier
in the head! She suffers 3/4/5.
32
Combat Sequence
1. Roll for Initiative
1D10 + Base Initiative + Modifiers
Everyone rolls 1D10 + their Base Initiative (Dexterity
+ Awareness added together) plus any modifiers for
weapons or situations.
Narrator should give bonuses or penalties for
advantageous and disadvantageous situations,
range, high ground, surprise, ambushes and so on.
This can often be the difference in a previous Skill
check (such as a Stealth roll, opposed by anothers
Awareness, the winner may get to add their
successes to their initiative roll).
Gaining the Initiative
Initiative order remains the same each round unless
one of the characters does something to gain the
Initiative. They can do this by defeating an attacking
character by 4 or more successes on a defensive roll,
putting themself in a more favourable position. Or
by doing an attack to knock the other person down,
put sand in their eye, stun them. If this happens,
the winning character is now in a higher initiative
position than their opponent.
Example: Fraser has lost the initiative to Billy the
Brute, a thug of some renown. Billy lunges at Fraser
and tries to throttle him. He gets 3 successes to
strike. Fraser dives aside, getting 7 successes on
his dodge check, meaning he beat Billys roll by 4.
Now, next round Fraser has a higher initiative than
Billy, and goes first. The Narrator says that Fraser
has side-stepped so well that Billy goes totally off-
balance, stumbling.
Losing the Initiative
Initiative can also be lost by rolling a Bungle, falling
flat on your face, tripping over, or anything else that
would cause you to waste a couple of moments,
giving the other person the upper hand. That
character now goes last. If multiple characters lose
the initiative in the same round, they will go in order
of their Base Initiative level (roll a tie break, do
scissor paper rock or flip a coin if that level is equal).
Example: Angela was beating down on an Infected
with a heavy candlestick, and had it backing
away when she Bungles her roll and drops it.
She flinches, losing the initiative, and allowing the
Infected to lunge at her once more. Uh oh.
2. Roll to Strike
Anyone wishing to attack can roll to strike in their
turn order.
For Ranged attacks this is Dexterity/Ranged.
For unarmed attacks, roll Brawn/Hand to Hand
(punching, kicking and wrestling). For melee attacks,
roll Brawn/Melee (knives, swords, axes).
A Defensive Action actually defends against all
attacks in the same round. Apply the same level of
success to all attacks, with a 1 for each beyond the
first.
4. Add Weapon
Damage
Attacker adds the
weapons damage level
(if any) to the number of
successes gained in the strike. That
is the total damage inflicted.
Some weapons do +0 damage. However, they
can still be dangerous because they increase the
Hardness Rating of the attack, making a victim
unable (or less able) to absorb the damage.

3. Roll to 5. Roll to Absorb

Defend
Brawn (+Athletics) or Armour/Armour or Brawn/
Defenders may roll Armour/Armour
to defend if they
If possible, the victim can roll to absorb the damage.
wish (and if they
This is done with Brawn, (+Athletics if the character
are aware of the
braces and uses a Defensive Action).
attack). Even if they
declared that they Each success removes one point of damage.
were doing a different
If the character is wearing armour, they may roll two
action, they can abort to a Defensive Action.
dice to absorb. Brawn may be added to that as a
Roll Dexterity/relevant Skill. third die, if the Hardness Rating of the attack can be
absorbed by Brawn.
This may be Dexterity/Dodge, to physically avoid
the strike, dive behind a table, or Dexterity/Hand to Remember to also compare the HR of the attack and
Hand to block a punch, Dexterity/Melee to parry an the HR of the armour.
axe with a chair or a golf club or bat.

The Defensive Action costs them their action that

round. Unless they declared at the beginning of the
round that they would be performing a multi-action
(and in which case, they would suffer penalties on
the roll).

Every success gained by the defender negates a

success by the attacker.

The defender wins ties.

33
 Ranged Weapons
Weapon Initiative Damage Range ROF Mag HR Examples
Pistol, Light +3 +2 S Short 18 2 9mm Glock 17

Pistol, Heavy +2 +4 S Short 8 2 Colt 1911 .45 pistol

Submachine Gun +2 +4 M Full Auto 30 2

MP5 Navy

Colt M4A1
Assault Rifle, Light +1 +6 L Full Auto 30 3
Assault Rifle, Heavy +7 L Full Auto 30 3 AK-47

Rifle, Light +1 +3 M Single 5 2 .22 Longrifle

Sniper Rifle +8 L Single 10 3 M40 Sniper Rifle

Mossberg 500
Shotgun +1 +8 M Short 8 3
12 Birding Shotgun
Double-Barrel Shotgun +5 M Short 2 2
Machinegun, Light +7 L Full Auto Belt 3 M249 Light Machinegun

Melee Weapons
Weapon Init Damage Strike Parry HR Notes
Knife +1 +1 2
Combat Knife +2 +2
2
Broken Bottle +1 1 2
Machete +1 +3 2
Hatchet 1 +4 3 2
Axe 2 +7 2 2
Hammer 1 +1 1
Crowbar 1 +2 1
Twohanded
Bat +1 +5 1 1

Armour
Movement Awareness
Armour Absorb/Parry HR Notes
Penalty Penalty
Leather Jacket +3/+3 1
Hockey, fencing,
Sports Armour +6/+6 1 1
motorbike armour

Poor Steel Plating +5/+5 2 2

Light Ballistic Armour +5/+5 2 Bulletproof Vest

Riot Armour
Medium Ballistic Armour +7/+7 2 1
Heavy Ballistic Armour +6/+6 3 2 Military Armour

Riot Shield +5/+5 or +2/+2 2

Ballistic Shield +6/+6 or +1/+1 3 1 2

34
Initiative: Penalty: 2
The bonus or penalty to Base Initiative when using
this weapon. +
Strike: Dexterity Ranged Ranged
The bonus or penalty to Strike with the weapon. 2 Successes
Parry A short burst is typically what is known as a double-
The bonus or penalty to Parry with the weapon. Roll tap, the squeezing off of two to three bullets in a
Dexterity/Melee as a defensive action against Hand tight grouping to kill one exact target. For a
to Hand or Melee attacks. machinegun this is usually about 10 rounds.

Damage: A short burst gives +1 die to strike at the level of

The amount of Damage the weapon does. Ranged, with a penalty of 2.

Range:
Long Burst
This is in 4 categories:
Strike: +2 Ranged dice
Short (S): 10m effective range.
Penalty: 4
Medium (M): 50m effective range.
Long (L): 100m effective range. +
Extreme (E): 200m effective range. Dexterity Ranged Ranged Ranged
Weapons can fire at twice this for a penalty of 4, or 4 Successes
at four-times that range for a penalty of 8. A long burst empties half a pistol or rifles magazine,
or about a hundred rounds for a machinegun.
ROF:
Rate of Fire. Single = single shots only. Short = Single A long burst gives +2 die to strike at the level of
shots or short bursts. Long = Single shots, short and Ranged, with a penalty of 4.
long bursts. Full Clip = all of the above.
Fully-Automatic Burst
Mag:
The size of the magazine. Strike: +3 Ranged dice
Penalty: 6
HR:
The Hardness Rating of the weapons attack.
+
Firing Bursts
Dexterity Ranged Ranged Ranged Ranged
One of the advantages of modern weapons is that
they can fire rapidly. A burst is a rapid-fire series
6 Successes
of shots, from a few rounds to a fully-automatic A fully-automatic burst is essentially spraying an
emptying of a weapons magazine. Bursts increase area with a huge number of inaccurate bullets.
the chance of a hit, but decrease individual bullet
A fully-automatic burst gives +3 dice to strike at the
accuracy.
level of Ranged, with a penalty of 6.

Short Burst
Strike: +1 Ranged die
35
 Sample Combat
Trevor and Garth finally throw down over the last can of spam. Its on! Trevor goes for his pistol, while Garth has no weapons. Theyre
both standing beside what is left of the bar, and others around them scramble for cover.
1. Roll for Initiative
Trevors Base Initiative (Dexterity + Awareness) is 12, while Garths is 9. The Narrator gives Trevor a bonus of +1 as the instigator, as
he surprises Garth a little.
Trevor + 13 Garth + Base Initiative 9 = 11
(Base Initiative 12 +1) = 17

Trevor Wins Initiative

With the initiative in his favour, Trevor draws his pistol and decides to shoot Garth. The Narrator decides that theres no roll needed
to draw the pistol, but because its a little more difficult to draw and shoot, hes going to have 2 to strike.
Garth decides to dodge, diving behind the bar to avoid the hail of shots.
2. Roll to Strike
Trevor + Dexterity 6 (7) = 14 4 Successes 4
(+1 for pistol) Successes to
Trevor rolls to strike with his pistol. He
Strike
rolls Dexterity/Ranged to strike. His + Ranged 4 = 8 0 Successes
Dexterity is 6, his Ranged is 4. The pistol
gives+1/+0 to the roll.
3. Roll to Defend
Garth + Dexterity 4 = 6 0 Successes
Garth dives behind the bar. 1
He rolls Dexterity/Dodge to defend. His Success to
Dexterity is 4, his Dodge is 3. + Dodge 3 = 11 1 Success Dodge

4 Strike
1 Dodge
=3 Successes Total
4. Add Weapon Damage 3 Strike +2 Pistol Damage
=
5 Damage
5. Roll to Absorb Garth
+ Armour 6 = 11 1 Success
Garth is wearing a light kevlar vest, which gives him +6/+6 Absorb
at HR 2. The pistol is also HR 2, so he can absorb it at the normal
rate. Without the armour he couldnt absorb an HR 2 attack at all + Armour 6 = 8 0 Successes
because its 2 HR levels above his own (humans are HR 0, most
1
guns HR 2 or 3). Garth rolls a 5 and a 2, getting just 1 success to
Successes to
absorb, and taking 4 Damage.
Garth
Absorb
6. Deal Damage
Garth takes 4 damage in a wicked gash, which is partially stopped Total
by his kevlar. He is now suffering 1 to all rolls, and is bleeding
10 Health

and hurt, but still able to fight. He has dived over the bar, and next
round can use it for cover.
3 3 1 4 1
0 2
Battered Injured Wounded

36
 Chapter Six
Scenario

W
hat follows are several sample characters,
and a scenario, The Fifty Hands.

NPC Stats
Non-Player Character (NPC) stat blocks are generally
shortened for sake of convenience.

Abbreviations:
Brn = Brawn Dex = Dexterity Int = Intelligence
Awa = Awareness Res = Resolve Pres = Presence
Base Init= Base Initiative HtH= Hand to Hand

Minor NPC Stats:

Attributes
Physical = Brawn and Dexterity
Social = Presence and Tact
Mental = Awareness and
Intelligence
Spiritual = Resolve and
Luck

Skills
Physical = Wilderness,
Athletics, Dodge, Stealth,
Construction, Pilot
Martial = Hand to Hand, Melee,
Ranged
Knowledge = Knowledge, Medical,
Military, Rogue, Language
Perception = Deduction, Observation,
sometimes Wilderness
Social = Animal Handling, Command,
Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation,
Perform

A&D = Advantages and Disadvantages

37
 Lizzy Randall Lizzy Randall
Lizzy Randall was the spoilt daughter of a billionaire Attributes Disposition: Saviour
before the outbreak. During it, she lost absolutely Brawn 5 Circumstances
everything she cared about. For a long while she Dexterity 5
Compound crossbow, 40 bolts (lvl 4)
just drifted with thousands of other refugees, seeing Presence 4
Light ballistic armour (lvl 4)
Tact 3
and being a part of things so horrible she has simply Clothes and survival gear (lvl 3)
Awareness 4
blotted them out of her mind. Intelligence 6
(incl. gas mask, flashlight, fire starter kit, cook-
ing gear.)
It was her faith that kept her going through those Resolve 4
Wealth 4
Luck 4
unbelievably dark times. The faith that the Lord
Advantages and Disadvantages
giveth, and the Lord taketh away. She was so fervent Morality: 4 Angry (lvl -4)
in that belief that she ended up scratching a cross Base Init: 10 Act of Will (lvl 8)
into her forehead as a permanent reminder.

Still, she was facing starvation and a slow, exhausted Skills

Animal Handling 0 Language 0
demise when she stumbled into Pamra. The town
Athletics 5 Medical 3
was wary, small and struggling but they accepted Command 4 Melee 4
her for who she was. Construction 3 Military 2
Deception 4 Observation 6
Lizzy has worked hard to prove herself
Deduction 3 Perform 2
to the people there. She has learnt the Domestic 4 Pilot: Light Vehicles 5
hard way how to use a bow and Diplomacy 5 Ranged: 5
other ranged weapons, and often Dodge 6 Rogue 3
goes out on salvaging expeditions Hand to Hand 5 Stealth 6
with the men, digging deep into Intimidation 3 Wilderness 6
the ruins of humanity, all the Knowledge 4

while waiting for the shrieks of

Base Health 9
discovery from the Infected. Brawn + Luck
Total Health 9
Extra Health 0
Lizzys dark past still haunts
Battered Injured Wounded
her in many ways, though her
3 3 3
faith gives her the strength to Total Exp: 175
-1 -1
endure.
Angry
Status
Lizzy is someone of note in Pamra 1 on all checks to resist provocation. If the
and the surrounding communities, character fails, they might snap and become
and is something of a marshal enraged.
who keeps the town safe.
Act of Will

The character can spend a point of Resolve to

operate at full capacity (no damage penalties)
even when on negative Health. They will
suffer penalties only from undeniable
physical damage such as a missing eye,
severed leg, or snapped knee.

38
Amagi Amagi
Amagi was a soldier during the outbreak, and Attributes Disposition: Commander
participated in a number of population control Brawn 6 Circumstances
actions that were nothing short of genocide. He Dexterity 5
Heavy assault rifle, 6 clips (lvl 7)
soon came to realise that he couldnt live with his Presence 6
Clothes and survival gear (lvl 3)
Tact 4
own actions and went AWOL. (incl. gas mask, flashlight, fire starter kit,
Awareness 5
cooking gear.)
Years later, with society having almost completely Intelligence 5
Heavy ballistic armour (lvl 6)
devolved into feudalism, Amagi has made peace Resolve 5
Wealth 2
Luck 4
with his inner demons. Now hes the lawman of Reputation 4
Pamra, a small town in the middle of nowhere. Morality: 4 Advantages and Disadvantages
Judge, jury and executioner, he has his fair share of Base Init: 10 Despair (lvl -5)
enemies. Enemies (lvl -8)
Cold (lvl -5)
With plenty of foes out there, Amagi also finds he Skills
Animal Handling 4 Language 0
needs plenty of friends. And he has them in spades.
Athletics 5 Medical 4
There are countless folk he has saved from the Command 4 Melee 5
depredations of bandits and rescued from Infected Construction 2 Military 4
packs not to mention helping on the farms and Deception 5 Observation 5
doing manual labour. Deduction 4 Perform 0
Diplomacy 5 Pilot: Light Vehicles 5
At first a bit of a closed book, Amagi warms when he Dodge 5 Ranged 6
knows he can trust someone (particularly Domestic 3 Rogue 3
when hes downed a bottle or two) Hand to Hand 4 Stealth 4
and is fiercely loyal to his friends. In Intimidation 4 Wilderness 6
Pamra, he has found a place where Knowledge 4

he can start again, and once again

Base Health 10
feel of use to the world. Though Brawn + Luck
Total Health 10
Extra Health 0
the world has little law and
order, Amagi has made Battered Injured Wounded
his word his bond, and 3 3 4
Total Exp: 175
aims to keep that no -1 -1
matter what.

Hell, a man has to

Despair
have some sort of
code, right? When suffering reversals and failures,
they must make a Resolve check (with
Cold
a possible penalty). If they fail, they
1 on social cannot spend Resolve for the rest of
interaction rolls the day.
based on trust and
Enemies
friendship.
Amagi has a large number of
enemies. In particular those he
kicked out of Pamra, local gangs and
the Czars criminal network.
39
Larkin Bram, Hunting Dog
Larkin is an intimidating bear of a man more at Bra 7 Dex 7 Hand to Hand 6, Athletics 14, Wilderness
home in the wilds than in the stinking confines of (tracking) 15 Health 8
a community. He blew into Pamra a year or so ago, Attacks: Bite: Brawn/Hand to Hand, +2 Dmg HR 2
travelling alone with his hunting dog Bram. Dark
rumours followed him, speaking of awful atrocities
committed in a far away settlement. Of course, no Larkin
one is quite game enough to approach Larkin on Attributes Disposition: Lone Wolf
this point, and hes not really the sort of guy who Circumstances
Brawn 7
likes to chat. Dexterity 5 Hunting Dog, Bram (lvl 6)
Presence 5 Heavy rifle w/scope, 40 rounds (lvl 6)
Unlike most people, Larkin isnt concerned about
Tact 3 Clothes and survival gear (lvl 3)
venturing into the ruins. He knows them well, and
Awareness 5 (incl. gas mask, flashlight, water
with Bram beside him he is rarely taken by surprise. Intelligence 4 filtration pills)
Still, he knows the dangers, so often brings others Resolve 4 Heavy ballistic armour (lvl 6)
in for a share of the spoils. Of course, its a perilous Luck 4
Advantages and Disadvantages
occupation, and the casualty rate amongst Larkins Carnivore (lvl -6)
friends can be quite high. Though theres never any Morality: 3 Macabre (lvl -5)
lack of volunteers. Base Init: 10
Skills
A quiet man, Larkin has few true friends, but those
he does have are precious to him. Those who have Animal Handling 5 Medical 4
earnt his loyalty, have earnt it come what may. Athletics 5 Melee 5
Command 4 Military 3
Of course, Larkins enemies have also learnt that he Construction 4 Observation 5
will pay them back too come what may. Deception 2 Perform 0
Deduction 4 Pilot (Light Vehicles) 4
Carnivore Diplomacy 3 Ranged 5
Dodge 4 Rogue 3
The character no
Domestic 3 Stealth 5
longer gains satisfaction Hand to Hand 4 Wilderness 6
from vegetables and Intimidation 5
craves raw meat. If they Knowledge 4
are forced to endure Language 0
being without raw Base Health 11 Total Health 13
Brawn + Luck
meat for more Extra Health 2
than a few days, Battered Injured Wounded
they must start 4 5 5 Total Exp: 175
making Resolve -1 -1
checks, with a Macabre
cumulative
The character has gotten to the point where
penalty of 1
they love being around dead bodies (humans
each day.
or animals). They will collect dead parts, or
use corpses to take selfies (if they have a
working camera of course), play board
games with them or do theatrical
plays. This is horrifying to others, and must be role- Alex Maloney
played. Attributes Disposition: Enthusiast
Brawn 6
Circumstances
Alex Maloney Dexterity 4
Presence 4
Light assault rifle, 5 clips (lvl 6)
Heavy ballistic armour (lvl 6)
Alex has been through the ringer. A young military Tact 5
Awareness 5 Wealth (lvl 3)
medic, he looked set for a promising career with
Intelligence 5 Allies (lvl 4)
a young wife when the outbreak hit. His wife
Resolve 5
vanished a year or so ago, and that has haunted Luck 4 Advantages and Disadvantages
him ever since. Searching for her has been his one
Impulsive (lvl -4)
overriding goal but all the clues faded, leaving Morality: 7 Gambler (lvl -5)
him defeated and close to his end when he arrived Base Init: 11
in Pamra.
Skills
Being one of the only medically-minded people in Animal Handling 0 Language: Spanish 3
the town made Alex a vital commodity, and it was Athletics 5 Medical 5
that which helped him rise from the blackness that Construction 3 Melee 5
Deception 4
threatened to overwhelm him. He has made friends Military 4
Deduction 6 Observation 5
now, and though the town is constantly struggling,
Diplomacy 4 Perform 0
he has made it his mission to see that the place Dodge 5 Pilot: Light Vehicles 5
becomes a safe, thriving community one where Domestic 2 Ranged 6
no one else will have to suffer as he has done. Hand to Hand 4 Rogue 4
Intimidation 5 Stealth 5
Alex cant bear to stay too idle. Hes constantly Knowledge 4 Wilderness 3
travelling to other towns, finding errands that can
get him out and about and quietly looking for
clues as to his wifes whereabouts. He knows its a Base Health 10
long shot, but he cant stop looking. Brawn + Luck Total Health 11
Extra Health 1
This sort of pent-up emotion has had a few Battered Injured Wounded
other side-effects. Alex cant stand bullies, 3 4 4 Total Exp: 175
gangs, thugs and the like, and often bites -1 -1
off more than he can chew. Hes impulsive,
reckless, brave and some would say
slightly suicidal. Gambler
Alex just shrugs when he hears The character is a gambler,
this those who say who cant resist a throw of
such things are usually the dice, a game of chance,
content to hide or high risk activity.
behind their walls
Impulsive
and let others
fight their battles for them. The character will leap before
they look, diving into situations
before they fully check things
out. This should be role
played
41
 Phil Monrovy Phil Monrovy
Born in Alabama, with a long, nasally Southern Attributes Disposition: Opportunist
Brawn 4
drawl, Phil isnt particularly fit or strong, but hes
Dexterity 5 Circumstances
got the sharpest mind out of anyone around. Presence 5 Clothes and survival gear (lvl 3)
Tact 7 (incl. gas mask, flashlight, fire starter kit,
Phil knows well that people are likely to target cooking gear.)
Awareness 4
anyone who could be dangerous, so he does his Light ballistic armour (lvl 5)
Intelligence 5
best to be as unthreatening as possible whilst Resolve 4 Submachine gun, 4 clips (lvl 5)
also not being an easy target. Doing this keeps him Luck 6 Allies (lvl 4)
out of the way of the chest-puffing alpha males out Wealth (lvl 4)
to be the leaders of whatever godforsaken town or Morality: 4 Advantages and Disadvantages
Silver Tongue (lvl 5)
group hes with and allows him to pass somewhat Base Init: 10
Morbid (lvl -2)
undetected. He has a talent for being unnoticed, for Impatient (lvl -2)
being able to watch and observe; meanwhile, his
Skills
mind is moving fast. Animal Handling 0 Language 0
Athletics 5 Medical 2
Behind the scenes, Phil is skillful at manipulating
Command 3 Melee 4
events. Say the right thing to this guy here, and
Construction 3 Military 0
then to this guy here, and voila! Two enemies are Deception 6 Observation 5
suddenly at each others throats. Deduction 5 Perform 0
Diplomacy 6 Pilot (Light Vehicles) 3
Phil has become something of a town spokesman,
Dodge 4 Ranged 4
traveling to other towns to handle trade disputes, Domestic 5 Rogue 4
smoothing over relations and organising alliances. Hand to Hand 3 Stealth 4
Occasionally he takes matters a little further than Intimidation 2 Wilderness 3
that and brings along his heavy-hitting friends. Knowledge 5

Though Phil would prefer to stay at home in comfort Base Health 10

and safety, he knows that to get where youre going, Brawn + Luck Total Health 10
Extra Health 0
you need to hustle and all too often that involves
Battered Injured Wounded
going into danger. Hes
not suicidal, but he 3 3 4 Total Exp: 175
-1 -1
is brave when he
needs to be. Silver Tongue

The character gains +1/+0 on social rolls to

persuadepeople.

Morbid

The character is so used to seeing dead bodies that

their behavior around them becomes disturbing or
even frightening to others such as bad jokes on
deceased comrades, or being careless while moving
corpses. This must be role played, but the Narrator
can inflict a penalty of 2 on social interaction rolls
when this occurs.

42
 Fifty Hands
The following is an adventure to give you a taste of
the world of Infected!. We recommend using the
sample pre-generated characters at this stage, as
the rules for creating characters from scratch have
not been fully explained in this brief summary.
This is designed to take about 4 hours to play, with
1-5 players.
Summary
This scenario is set in the small settlement of Pamra,
located in the ruins of New York City. Under threat
of assault by a militaristic faction called the Fifty
Hands, the players are required to bargain for
weaponry from a local trader - but without
quite enough money, and with the Fifty Hands
Dramatis Personae
James Madamer: A charismatic man
in his late forties, James Madamer
is the elected mayor of Pamra. At
first glance, James appears to be
easy-going. He speaks with confidence
and authority but behind his eyes is a
cutthroat politician of an unforgiving
world. James is tall and thin with short
hair and a growing widows peak.
Al Binter (the Czar): Though big Al is in
his late fifties, he is no less a mountain
of a man. As the towns tanner,
Al provides much of the furs
used by the town to stay warm
during the cold winters. Many of his leather works
are of incredible quality he is quite the artisan. Al
is also, in fact, the Czar, a criminal boss in the local
region. S
Karla: The foster mother for some eight orphaned
children in the settlement, Karla is a caring
individual who seems as gentle as your own
grandmother. In fact though, she has a heart of steel
and often tells the children that she would kill for
them if necessary. Right or wrong, I would kill for
you. She brooks no nonsense from those who cross
her and has a harsh teachers voice when needed.
Bart Telvin: A disgruntled man in his fifties, Bart is
all skin and bone and darting eyes. He dislikes the
way James (and Karla) is leading the settlement, and
regularly complains to those who will listen. He also
knows virtually everything that is going on, who is
sleeping with who, who has stolen what, and is not
only an information broker, but also a peddler of
hidden weapons and food.
Kevin Renmire: Begrudgingly in his late thirties with
a shaved head and lean muscle, Kevin is now in
charge of all security within the settlement a
responsibility he takes very seriously. Despite
his deep caution, he maintains a great sense
of humor.
Freddie: A kid of about seventeen who
is keen to do his bit to defend the town,
along with a dozen other teenagers and
kids. Not greatly skilled, he is still highly
determined, and is often the last line of
defence when the PCs leave for various
activities.
The Fifty Hands
An anarchistic group believing in freedom for
themselves and no rules at all, the Fifty Hands
moved in to the town of Norwich, some ten
kilometres to the north.
They rapidly took over the small settlement
that was there, killing those who resisted and
enforcing their tyranny on everyone else. Lazy and
demanding, they have no patience for farming, and
both hunger and opportunism have led them to
start raiding other communities in the ruins of New
York - with Pamra their juiciest target.
So far theyve been content to rob a few people
living on the fringes, and beat those who resist them
43
 or give them attitude. But theyve also stopped all
traffic coming from the north, which is where most
of it came from in the first place!
There are around fifty of these roughnecks, but
word has it that they are part of a larger group
called The Red Hand, whose philosophy is rapidly
spreading across America.
The leader of the Fifty is one Ernest Young, a
powerfully built former National Guardsman, who
has enlisted the help of a large bunch of likeminded
inviduals with the idea to carve out a small kingdom
for themselves.
Scruffy
It is just before dawn when the scout Larkin (see the
Pre-Gen character on page ##) returns to town with
some disturbing news.
If he is being used as a player character, then
tell him how he has just gotten back from the
nearby settlement of Norwich, where he had seen
something that raised the hairs on the back of his
neck.
He sees James, the towns leader, who then quickly
sends off Freddie to wake the other PCs.
Note: Dont tell them what the news is until theyre
all in Jamess place.
Describe how they step over sleeping children in the
corridor, can smell the familiar stench of untreated
sewerage and navigate their way through corridors
filled with peoples belongings.
When they reach James, he tells them the news.
The Fifty Hand have arrived at Norwich, just up the
road from Pamra, and theyve brought with them
weapons and supplies including a humvee.
The signs are clear. They are going to assault Pamra.
But what is also painfully clear is that Pamra simply
cannot withstand that assault. Not with a handful
of rifles and only a few trained soldiers. They need
44
real hardware, and they need it within the next few
days.
Scruffy
James has been planning for this for the last few
days, and has already brokered a deal with a local
arms dealer. His name is Scruffy, and he has agreed
to meet in the notoriously seedy area known as
Gully, a few kilometres to the south.
Theres a catch though...Scruffy has been told to
bring a whole lot of hardware, and he wants gold
for it - some two kilos of the stuff! Thats more
gold than the entire town has (theyve managed to
scrounge up about 300g).
Instead of that, they have a good quantity of food
and a great willingness to do manual work.
James knows its a terrible situation to be in, but
theyre out of time. They need those weapons
or the town will surely be overrun and virtually
enslaved. That fate really doesnt bear thinking
about. All (or most) of the PCs have family and
friends in Pamra, and the idea of them being
beaten, tortured, killed or raped is simply too
horrific to bear.
They need those guns.
James doesnt want to ask the PCs to go, but he has
no choice. Theyre the only ones who can do it. He
thinks theyve got one day before the Hands attack
the town. Time is of the essence!
Narrators Note: If players ask what they know
about Scruffy, have them roll an Intelligence/
Knowledge check. If they get 5 or more successes
then theyll know that he is a local gun dealer
who no doubt has contacts all across the region.
Apparently he is very suspicious, almost paranoid,
and only accepts payment in gold.
Any pcs who make 10 or more successes will also
know that Scruffy quite commonly funds two
sides of a conflict - that way he stands to make
the most from it.
Heading to Gully familiar shriek rip through the air. Followed by
another, and then another.
As the PCs know, there is only one working vehicle,
a battered old pickup truck with four bald tires Infected!
(and one spare) as well as a slowly leaking head
Have the person changing the tyre make a
gasket. Its seen better days. But its still the best
Dexterity/Construction check 4 to change it before
shot theyve got and with crates of food loaded up
the Infected reach them. If another PC is helping
in the back and the PCs all piled in, they will start to
them to hold up the vehicle then give them a bonus
head out. The trip should only take half an hour to
of +1/+0 to the roll.
anhour.

Make sure the PCs have enough time to prepare
themselves. If they ask for it, they will be able to
secure some supplies of extra ammunition, and, if
they succeed on a Luck/Diplomacy check (needing
4 succcesses), then there will even be a few sets of
Medium Ballistic Armour (see page ##).
The road through the ruins is utterly empty, though
it is littered with the familiar signs of the outbreak.
Dozens of vehicles rust quietly in scattered groups,
slowly getting overgrown with grass. The road itself
is steadily disappearing in many places, grass and
dirt starting to submerge it.
The Pile Up
Narrators Note: Remind new players that they
can spend a point of Resolve to gain a bonus of
+2/+2 to a single roll. Or spend Luck to gain a re-
roll. The points recover at the rate of 1 per day.
The screams from the Infected will build to fever
pitch as they approach from the side which has the
ruined cars. If the PCs succeed on an Awareness/
Observation -2 roll (opposed by the Infecteds
Dexterity/Stealth roll - use the Runners stats), they
will see some of them frantically crawling forward
through the press of cars, and can attempt to shoot
them (roll Dexterity/Ranged to hit, 2 for a difficult
target).

The first incident they have is at an old pileup of The PCs only have 2 rounds before the Infected
some twenty to thirty cars blocking the road. It reach them.
is a well-known spot, and there is a narrow path
Runner x2 Number of PCs
where many other vehicles have navigated their way
through the press over the past few months. Physical 5 Physical 5 Health
If the PCs decide to take that route, have them roll Social 3 Martial 5 3 3 3
Mental 4 Knowledge 2
an Awareness/Observation check 4, to spot several
Spiritual 4 Perception 5 Base Init 9
sharp stakes sticking out of the rubble.
Social 3
If the tyre is punctured, then as the PCs dismount
to change the tyre, they will notice the spike and
no doubt be on full alert (they can remove the Infection
stakes with a few minutes work). This is a great Roll: Brawn/Luck
opportunity to communicate to them the eeriness Opposed By: Damage received, or successes
of their position, surrounded by wrecked vehicles. gained in the splatter strike. (Rule of thumb: 4
Anything could be out there, watching them... successes minimum).
After the PCs start working on removing the stakes Getting clawed, bitten or getting sprayed with
or changing the tyre, theyll hear a horrifically contagious material will result in the victim possibly
becoming infected.

45
 To determine the result of this, the victim must The meet is scheduled for a four-way intersection in
make a Brawn/Luck check, opposed by the amount a largely-abandoned area. Scruffy has a shooter with
of damage received, or the successes gained from a sniper rifle in one building. The sniper stays hidden
the spray. If they fail, theyre infected, and only so long as the PCs arent threatening and Scruffy
rapid medical attention will give them any chance of doesnt order him to engage.
survival (unless they somehow become immune).
Scruffy arrives in a big military truck with one
If the Narrator is not sure how henchman for each PC. They are armed with light
many successes the character assault rifles and one of them even has a grenade.
needs, they can apply a rules of
In the truck are over thirty rifles, a grenade launcher
thumb of 4 successes minimum.
and a dozen claymores, as James ordered.
Claws
Scruffy himself is an unimposing, short man
Strike: Dexterity/Hand to Hand
with a shock of Einstein hair. He is hunched,
Damage: +1, HR 0
thin and has a bad temper.
Special: Infection
He and all his men are wearing Heavy Ballistic
Bite Armour (+6/+6 Absorb, HR 3). The bodyguards
Strike: Dexterity/Hand to Hand shield him.
1
Damage: +2, HR 1 Goons x4
Special: Infection
Physical 6 Physical 6 Health
Social 5 Martial 6
The purpose of this encounter is to
3 3 4
Mental 5 Knowledge 5
frighten the PCs, give them a sudden Spiritual 4 Perception 5 Base Init 11
shock of combat, and let them have a close Social 4 Morality 5
shave. They will also get more familiar with
Equipment Light assault rifle (+4 Dmg, HR 2), 3 clips,
combat. heavy ballistic vest & helmet (+6/+6 Absorb, HR 3)
Sniper has a sniper rifle (+8 Dmg, HR 3).
Eventually they will either kill all the Infected, or
escape in their pickup, with the Infected swarming
after them (or they might kill most of the Infected,
Scruffy
and the few survivors run away...self preservation is
still an instinct for them!). If they happen to kill all Physical 4 Physical 4 Health
the Infected, let them know that loud noises are a Social 6 Martial 4
bad idea, and that they know others will hear it and
3 3 3
Mental 6 Knowledge 6
come investigating. Time to get out of there. Spiritual 5 Perception 5 Base Init 10
Social 7 Morality 4
Gully
Equipment Light pistol (+2 Dmg, HR 2), 3 clips,
Gully is a rough and tumble area of the city. Literally heavy ballistic vest & helmet (+6/+6 Absorb, HR 3)

in a gully, it is largely waterlogged, and the people

Scruffy is an easily antagonised individual, who has a
who live here have a reputation for banditry. There
high sense of his own importance. Hes always fairly
are people in the area, with a few well-known
paranoid and meticulously careful. He doesnt trust
trading sections, and a lot of small holdfasts,
the PCs an inch.
barricaded and bullet-chewed.

46
He is also not interested in anything the PCs have to Narrators Note: This battle should be fast-paced
trade, other than bright, shiny gold. and intense, with the players unsure of where
their enemies are, getting shot at from both
The PCs should make several Tact/Diplomacy
directions. Emphasise the chaotic and terrifying
checks, or other social rolls, in their attempts to nature of the engagement the players will
persuade him. All such rolls will be at 6. have to think fast and get into cover if they want
to survive. A good option is to get into Scruffys
If they manage to get some successes (and if they
truck and escape with him.
are very convincing), then Scruffy will be willing to
part with a few weapons, and a big debt.
If Theresa is captured, she will delight in telling the
However, at around that point, the air will be rent PCs how they have dozens of soldiers, and plenty
with the sound of a sniper shot, followed by more more on the way, and that they have humvees and
shots, and bullets whining around the PCs and rocket launchers. Pamra had better tow the line or
Scruffy, as the Fifty Hands attack the meeting from theyll get wiped out.
two sides. The Hands are dug in behind ruined cars
If they keep Theresa around, she will do her best
down both streets, and will steadily advance under
to get between the PCs and set them against each
steady, accurate fire.
other. She is not above seducing them either. At the
They are led by a ruthless lieutenant - Theresa slightest opportunity she will slip her bonds and
Adams, who is not only Ernest Youngs lover, but his escape, trying to steal as much of the guns as she
brutal enforcer. can (she would love to head off with the car and the
guns and leave the PCs stranded).
Red Hand Soldiers x2 Number of PCs
A Thankful Scruffy
Physical 6 Physical 6 Health
Social 5 Martial 6 Scruffy will be grateful to the PCs for helping him,
3 3 4
Mental 5 Knowledge 5 and will gift them with an extra half a dozen to a
Spiritual 4 Perception 5 Base Init 11 dozen rifles, from 2-4 claymores, and possibly even
Social 4 Morality 5 an RPG and a bucket load of ammunition for the
Equipment small arms (depending on how dramatically the PCs
Shotguns (+8 Dmg, HR 3), Heavy Pistols (+5 Dmg, HR 3),
Light Assault Rifles (+4 Dmg, HR 3), Medium Ballistic saved him, and on how well they roll their social
Vests, +7/+7 Absorb, HR 2). checks with him - hes nothing if not calculating and
stingey).
Lieutenant Theresa Adams
However, these extra weapons should be enough
Physical 5 Physical 5 Health to just get the edge on the Hands coming to attack
Social 6 Martial 6 Pamra.
3 3 4
Mental 5 Knowledge 5
Base Init 11
Spiritual 5 Perception 5 The Showdown
Social 6 Morality 5
Now the PCs have several options ahead of them:
Equipment Light Assault Rifle (+4 Dmg, HR 3), 4 clips,
Heavy Ballistic Armour (+6/+6 Absorb HR 3). they can rush back to Pamra, shore up the defences
and await the assault with the rest of the town.
Without the PCs, Scruffys men will be rapidly
Or, they can attempt to ambush the Hands as they
overwhelmed. If the Hands take more than 50%
leave Norwich.
casualties, they will retreat.

47
 A third option is that they work out a way to prevent Claymores or grenade launchers will, however, likely
the entire conflict from happening in the first place destroy a Humvee - theyve just got to make sure
- with some cunning diplomacy, threats and a show they hit it!
of force (after all, if they got weaponry from Scruffy,
The town has around twenty militia that can be
theres no telling how well armed they are).
called to protect it. But their morale is weak and
Either way, they wont have much time. You want to their training minimal.
keep ratcheting up the tension for this one. Its the
The result of a town defence is going to be bloody
finale. The big show down. Allow the PCs to choose
and unlikely to end favourably for the PCs.
their actions, and then describe them slowly, all the
while mentioning how they can feel time slipping
Ambush
away, and they know that at any moment the town
could be under attack. An ambush is actually a good idea.

If the PCs put claymore on the road that will likely

The Hands
The Hands are currently only 30 strong. They are all
armed with a variety of weapons, though many of
them have assault rifles.
take out the humvee, which will go forward first. If
the PCs can then kill or injure a good portion of the
Hands (or the Captain), then the Hands will retreat,
and will likely not attack again for a long time.

Captain Ernest Young

Diplomacy
Physical 7 Physical 6 Health Probably the best ending of all is a diplomatic one.
Social 5 Martial 7 How they work it out is up to them, but it will likely
4 4 4
Mental 6 Knowledge 5 require an equal balance of threat and fear.
Spiritual 5 Perception 6 Base Init 13
You should reward players who work towards this
Social 5 Morality 4 sort of a result, as it is risky, but also the best for the
Circumstances Equipment long-term survival of the town. Having a war with
Allies 5 Heavy assault rifle (+6 Dmg, HR 3), 5 clips. the Hands will not be good for anyone.
Light pistol (+2 Dmg, HR 2).
Heavy ballistic vest and helmet (+6/+6 Absorb,
HR 3). Running Large Combats
There is a trick to running large combats and making
them fluid, fast and entertaining.
Town Defence
The first thing to realise is that the smaller points
Organising the town for defence is possible. Its a just dont matter. You dont need character sheets
single large apartment complex, and so the Hands for every NPC - or even any of the NPCs. The
will have to assault it. But it is very likely that many important thing is what the PCs are doing. Are they
civilian casualties will be caused, as the Hands tipping the balance or not?
will shoot at windows, and fire missiles at the
There can be a lot of downtime in a long firefight.
defenderstoo.
Gloss over it and use it instead to give context to the
The Hands have a humvee, which is a highly important bits that are to come. You hunker down
defensible truck that is effectively bullet proof. It has in your chewed-out foxhole for half an hour or so,
an Absorb rating of +8/+8 HR 4. putting down covering shots that keep the Hands
pinned...then you hear shouts from behind you.
48
Sounds like someones broken through! What do
you do?

When you need to work out how the fight is going

roll 1d10 for each side. Give the stronger side a
bonus (for instance, I would give the Hands a +4,
and the town a +1). The higher roll is winning. Its
fairly easy to work out what happens that way, and
you dont get slowed down.

Use this system to create drama, tension and

great storytelling. You want to put the PCs into
situations that push and stretch them and make
them think outside the circle - use dynamic terrain
and situations to demand more than just shooting
and killing. You want them to think tactically and
use their intellects to work out strategies and
tactics. If they approach large-scale combats head-
on, as though they can shoot through half a dozen
opponents single-handedly...then theyll probably
die instantly.

Instead, let them think outside the square. Often

this will mean they use diplomacy, threats, bluffs,
ambushes, diversions and literally every trick in the
book!

Aftermath
Depending on how you played the scenario, there
could be many end results for this. Ultimately, the
best result is for the crisis to be averted and Pamra
to be saved. If it is, then let the PCs enjoy the fruits
of their victory.

Trade will likely start opening up again, new

merchants will start coming down the roads. Fresh
life will arrive in Pamra.

Those who have perished will be mourned. Their

sacrifices not forgotten. And the way will be set for
Pamra to rise again from the ashes of the Outbreak.

49
 Thank You For Reading Our Sampler!

To purchase a copy of the full book, as well as for tutorials and upcoming releases, please go to:
www.immersion-rpg.com

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